Teaching Young Girls, 2018, 2020, video with sound

Video duration: 8:26 minutes; image dimensions: 260 x 146 cm; camera, image, and sound editing by Kristina Horvat Blažinović; video performance by Ida Blažinović and Korana Močnik; narration provided by text-to-speech application.

Video

Teaching Young Girls combines contrasting portraits of two different girls—one with long hair wearing a tracksuit top and turtleneck, and the other with short hair in a deep-cut wedding dress—alongside the recitation of a repeated series of familiar proverbs and sayings in the background. (Damir Radić)

The two girls stand quietly side by side, with minimal, occasional head movements. They gaze intently at the camera and listen to a female voice in the background as she recites Croatian proverbs, sayings, and messages from the media space. The video features two alternating cycles. At the end of each cycle, a countdown sound is heard, after which the image is mirrored and the girls swap sides. These two cycles repeat in a loop. Some of the spoken proverbs include: “Elderly and pregnant women have the advantage!; Love is blind!; Politics is a whore!; Lies have short legs!; Don’t talk to strangers!; Look young!; There is no science without effort!; Alcohol kills!; Breakfast is not the most important meal!; The more, the better.; Morning is smarter than evening.; Blondes are not stupid!; The world rests on the young.; Where there is smoke, there is fire!; A dog is man’s best friend!; Better wounded than killed!; The earth is round!; Less is more!; Diamonds are every woman’s best friend!; Leave an impression!” etc.